NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people with diabetes, the
likelihood of having a major heart-related event is as high as
for non-diabetics who've previously suffered a heart attack,
Danish researchers report.

The finding, which appears in the American Heart
Association's journal Circulation, comes from a study of 3.3
million residents of Denmark who were at least 30 years of age.
Overall, 2.2 percent of subjects had diabetes and 2.4 percent
had a prior heart attack.

Dr. Tina Ken Schramm and colleagues found that, compared
with men without diabetes or a prior heart attack, those with
diabetes were 2.32-times more likely to experience a stroke,
heart attack or death from cardiovascular causes, and those
with a prior heart attack were 2.48-times more likely.

For women, the corresponding risks were raised 2.48- and
2.71-times.

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Furthermore, when people with diabetes do have a heart
attack, "they are twice as likely to die as non-diabetics,"
Schramm said in a statement.

Diabetic patients should be given statins and other
medications that have been shown to help prevent cardiovascular
events in this group, the researchers conclude.